Chapter 32
by GideonChapter 32: The Puppet Master – 8
Almost the instant the little puppet’s words fell, the cheerful smile on “Tu Jin’s” face froze. However, after remembering something, he quickly regained his composure.
Fearless, he simply sat cross-legged on the floor and watched the little puppet bawl her eyes out.
“Cry. Go on, keep crying.”
As he spoke, the face that originally belonged to Tu Jin twisted into a horrifyingly mocking smile. The corners of his lips stretched all the way to his ears, revealing glimpses of ghastly white bones beneath the flesh. Yet he seemed completely unaware of his grotesque appearance as streams of blood trickled down his skin.
And what was more…
Hearing the little puppet’s voice gradually grow weaker, he even kindly attempted to teach her.
“If you keep crying like that, you’ll get tired very quickly. Why don’t you adjust your breathing rhythm? That way, you can make sounds with less effort and keep crying for longer.”
The little puppet, upon hearing this: …?
Was that something a human being could actually say?
Her wailing abruptly stopped.
She stared at the “Tu Jin” in front of her in disbelief, so furious that she couldn’t even find the words to respond.
But apparently, “Tu Jin” still wasn’t satisfied.
Looking at the little puppet’s status panel, which still showed that she hadn’t acknowledged a master, he seemed to have suddenly discovered something interesting. Slowly, his gaze shifted toward Tu Jin.
“You already have the item in your hands, yet you still can’t subdue her?”
He really had been given every opportunity and still managed to fail.
“You’re actually even more useless than I imagined.”
“Tu Jin” remarked with a sigh. Under the little puppet’s suddenly changed gaze…
He reached out and effortlessly tore open a gaping wound in Tu Jin’s chest.
A strange orb emitting a pitch-black glow slowly emerged from the wound, eventually floating above it.
This strange orb was clearly Tu Jin’s core.
If the strange orb shattered, Tu Jin would die.
Just as “Tu Jin” was about to reach out and take the orb—
“What are you doing?!”
Everyone had assumed that Tu Jin would be the one to react most strongly. Unexpectedly, the little puppet, who had previously been cowering in fear, suddenly jumped forward.
Biting her lip, she stepped in front of Tu Jin, who was sprawled helplessly on the floor, blocking “Tu Jin’s” hand from reaching the strange orb.
Her little legs were trembling so badly from fear that she could barely stand, yet the little puppet stubbornly spread her arms and stood protectively in front of Tu Jin.
“You can’t touch him!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“Tu Jin” glanced at the little puppet in surprise. She had successfully diverted his attention.
He maliciously curled his lips, deliberately teasing the little puppet, who seemed to be on the verge of breaking down.
“What if I insist on touching him?”
The little puppet had been exposed for all her bluster being nothing more than an empty threat.
She desperately wanted to threaten him with something, but her mind simply wouldn’t cooperate. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
In the end, all she could do was stand there pitifully yet resolutely, stubbornly raising her head to look at “Tu Jin.”
Under different circumstances, if Tu Jin had witnessed this sight of the little puppet, who usually bossed him around without restraint, finally being put in her place, he might have found it amusing.
But now…
Tu Jin felt that he probably wouldn’t live long enough to see the day the little puppet officially acknowledged him as her master.
Adding everything up…
This time, he hadn’t just suffered a loss of more than fifty billion points and given away the usage rights to an entire suite. He had even ended up risking his own life…
He had never made such a disastrously bad deal in his entire life.
Did he resent it?
Did he regret it?
He struggled to move the only part of his body he could still control—his eyeballs—and silently stared in the little puppet’s direction.
Listening to her cries beside him, Tu Jin fell into deep thought.
Strangely enough, he discovered something…
He didn’t seem to regret it as much as he had imagined.
At the very least… the little puppet wasn’t completely devoid of conscience.
He wanted to laugh, but Tu Jin could no longer manage it.
Since he was going to die today anyway, rather than letting the game system benefit from everything he owned, he might as well…
Tu Jin closed his eyes and transferred all the assets under his name to the little puppet.
The little puppet, who had been completely immersed in her performance: …?
She nearly broke character. In utter shock, she turned to look at Tu Jin behind her.
Seeing his miserable condition, an unfamiliar feeling of guilt and remorse suddenly welled up inside her for the first time.
This was…
Feeling as though she had gone a little too far, the little puppet blinked away her tears and hurriedly embraced Tu Jin’s relatively intact head.
This was enough. Hurting him any further would really be going too far.
Besides, setting aside the assets worth hundreds of billions, wouldn’t he eventually become an S-rank puppet anyway?
Spurred by that little bit of guilt in her heart, the little puppet impulsively raised her favorability toward Tu Jin to 70%, completing a false master recognition.
The little puppet, who immediately regained her composure after completing the master recognition and began regretting her decision: …
She looked thoughtfully at Tu Jin in her arms. His expression practically screamed that he had no regrets about dying now.
Only after thinking it over belatedly did she suddenly realize…
Perhaps acknowledging this unfortunate… innocent fool as her master wasn’t entirely unacceptable?
After all…
Wasn’t she more like Tu Jin’s ancestor than his puppet?
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